Amish Ham Loaf Recipe

If you love meatloaf, you'll want to give this Amish Ham Loaf Recipe a try! It's not your ordinary meatloaf. It's made with ground pork and ground ham and seasoned with curry powder, ground ginger, and nutmeg then glazed with a sweet and sour sauce. This ham loaf recipe is the perfect way to repurpose your leftover holiday ham!

I've partnered with my friends at OhioPork.org to create this delicious recipe and blog post for you. All opinions are my own. 

The inspiration for my Amish Ham Loaf

Living in Northeast Ohio, I'm no stranger to Amish food. There is a large pocket of Amish just to the south of my home and it's not unusual to see an Amish buggy or two parked at Walmart. Our local grocery store chains sell many Amish foods including cheeses, canned and pickled goods, and bakery. One local grocery chain, Buehler's, even sells its own version of this recipe I'm sharing today...Ham Loaf.

In fact, it was at the Buehler's meat counter when I was first introduced to this dish way back in the 80's. I discovered that it's delicious and whenever I wanted to serve ham loaf, I just bought a store made one.

But times have changed, and as soon as I discovered how easy it was to make a ham loaf recipe at home, I just started making my own. (Making it at home also saves me money too!)

About that same time, I was fascinated with Amish food through the eyes of Marcia Adams and her PBS series, Amish Cooking from Quilt Country. As you might guess, she demonstrated a recipe for ham loaf. Her recipe became the inspiration for my own version, and the rest is history.

What is ham loaf made of?

If you've never had ham loaf, it's very much like any meatloaf in preparation and texture. But, it's got a totally unique flavor and color. Not quite ham, not quite meatloaf. Sort of hard to describe, but delicious nonetheless. It consists of a combination of ground ham and other ground meats. In my ham loaf recipe, I use ground ham and ground pork. That makes this loaf not only a great way to use up leftovers, but also quite economical because ground pork is so reasonably priced and it helps make this loaf moist and delicious!

Can you grind ham?

The easiest way to grind cooked ham is to use a food processor. A good food processor makes easy work of grinding ham for this recipe for ham loaf or for other recipes like my Favorite Ham Salad Spread. No special preparation is needed for the ham. Just use cold, cubed ham (skin on or off, your preference) and process with the blade in place until you get a grind like pictured below.  

Leftover ham recipes

As lovers of pork, most holidays in our family include a Honey Baked Ham on the menu. I really look forward to having a big ham several times a year. We almost always have leftovers, and I plan it that way. But, my family isn't big on eating leftovers unless I secretly turn them into something new. And, since I'm up for the adventure, I enjoy repurposing the leftover holiday ham. This Amish Ham Loaf recipe is perfect for leftover holiday ham! 

Other leftover ham recipes you might like:

• Classic Ham and Bean Soup
• Ham and Asparagus Quiche 
• Quick Creamy Ham and Potato Soup

Tips for making Amish Ham Loaf

• Use your hands to mix the ground meats with the breadcrumbs and seasonings. It helps you get a feel for whether the mixture is too wet (will fall apart) and help keep the loaf from becoming tough for being overworked. 
• Cook the ham loaf on a broiler pan. Cover the bottom half with foil and replace the slotted top. Spray lightly with cooking spray and shape your ham loaf right onto the slotted top. This will allow the excess fat to drip to the foil covered bottom keeping it away from the loaf and allowing for easy clean up! 
• Allow shaped loaf to sit for approximately 30 minutes before baking. This will help it keep its shape. 
• Brush the meatloaf with the glaze mixture 30 minutes into cooking and again at the 45 minute mark. Top with ketchup, if desired, right before ham loaf is done. 
• Allow ham loaf to cool for 15 minutes before cutting for serving. (Will help the loaf from falling apart when you slice). 

ham loaf, ham loaf recipe, leftover ham recipes

Main Course, pork

Amish, American

Yield: 10 servings

Author: Renee Paj

Amish Ham Loaf

Prep time: 40 MinCook time: 1 H & 10 MTotal time: 1 H & 50 M

Similar to meatloaf, this Amish Ham Loaf is made with ground ham and pork, seasoned with curry powder, ground ginger, and nutmeg then glazed with a sweet and sour sauce.

Ingredients

For Ham Loaf

• 1 pound ground ham (about 3 cups)
• 1 pound ground pork
• 2 to 2 1/2 cups soft white bread crumbs
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
• 2 TBSP lemon juice
• 1 tsp. curry powder
• 1 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 2 TBSP yellow mustard

For Glaze

• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
• Ketchup (optional)

Instructions

To Make the Ham Loaf

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare a broiler pan by covering the bottom portion in foil. Replace the slotted top and spray lightly with cooking spray. Set aside.
2. In large bowl, with hands, combine the ground ham, ground pork, and 2 cups soft bread crumbs.
3. In medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, sour cream, onion, lemon juice, ginger, nutmeg, and mustard.
4. Pour wet ingredients into bowl with ham/pork/breadcrumb mixture and combine with hands until it all comes together. If it feel too wet, add the rest of the breadcrumbs.
5. Shape into an oblong loaf onto prepared broiler pan. Let sit for about 30 minutes before putting into oven.
6. Bake for 30 minutes. Baste with 1/2 the glaze. Return to oven and bake for another 15 minutes. Baste with the remainder of the glaze. Return to oven for another 15 to 25 minutes. Top with ketchup, if desired, and pop into oven for another couple of minutes.
7. Let rest for 15 minutes before slicing.

To Make the Glaze

1. Combine all glaze ingredients except ketchup in a small saucepan and heat to boiling. Take off heat and use as directed in the Ham Loaf instructions above.

Nutrition Facts

Calories

371.85

Fat (grams)

17.56 g

Sat. Fat (grams)

6.36 g

Cholesterol (grams)

119.05 mg

Carbs (grams)

25.16 g

Fiber (grams)

1.59 g

Sugar (grams)

5.90 g

Net carbs

23.58 g

Protein (grams)

27.25 g

Sodium (milligrams)

711.29 mg

Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy only and is an estimate.

https://www.reneeskitchenadventures.com/2019/03/ham-loaf-recipe.html

Copyright © 2019 Renee's Kitchen Adventures

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For more information on pork and more delicious pork recipes, make sure you visit OhioPork.org!

Interested in learning more about Hog Farming?  Check out my visit to an Ohio Hog Farm!

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